Sardar Usman Ali Khan, 26, the grandson of former prime minister of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, spoke to Sheela Bhatt, Managing Editor (National Affairs) about the state of PoK after the October 8 catastrophe, while he shuttled between Muzaffarabad and Islamabad.

In our Kashmir, nothing has escaped the fury of jhaljhala (earthquake).

Our beauty has been marred by one stroke of nature.

Houses, hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, hotels, government offices... everything, just everything has been brought down by nature's fury.

Today, an Islamabad-based rehabilitation expert did a preliminary survey and said that more than $4 billion will be required to restore normalcy in Kashmir.

My grandfather, former prime minister Sardar Muhammed Abdul Qayyum Khan, is safe and is at the moment guiding relief work in our hometown near Muzzaffarabad. In many places, landslides have been occurring since the earthquake shook us.

People are petrified. They are shell-shocked and are unable to narrate their pain.

We have seen the mountains shaking dangerously. The land below our feet was roaring. No one had seen or imagined such things. Two friends, who were standing close by when earth shook, were thrown apart by half furlong when the earth calmed down.

In our houses, fridges almost hit the ceiling first and then the walls.

Many schoolchildren were among those buried alive in the October 8 catastrophe. Only 10 to 20 per cent have survived in each of the schools that came down that day. I do not think any amount of consolation can help us bear this pain. The most affected are our children.

Why was Allah so displeased with us? How did it happen?

It will take decades to get back to normalcy. Our Kashmir is buried under debris.

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday we could hear trapped people shouting for help under layers of debris. Some were giving their full identity and even names of people who can rescue them.

We want technological help to lift tonnes of debris. We need relief material to be dropped into Azad Kashmir. We want food, blankets and sleeping bags besides drinking water and milk for the few children of ours who survived the nature's adversity.

If relief does not come in soon, a few more people may die of cold and hunger.

Please do not route everything via the government. Ask donors and agencies to come to Muzzaffarbad and open relief camps and rehabilitation camp. The government is not afraid of God. Unhe khuda ka khauf nahin hota (They do not fear God).

We would advise people not to send money. Rather they should send material and give it in people's hands. In the interior villages, pain and destruction is much more than you can think of.

What more can be said when the Pervez Musharraf, despite being the head of the state, tells journalists that he came to know about destruction caused by the earthquake through the television.

Minister Sheikh Rashid told foreign journalists that Pakistan doesn't need aid. What are you talking! What kind of capabilities do you have? How can you play politics using people buried under the debris?

I must say even the Pakistani media did not understood the gravity of situation in Azad Kashmir and wrongly judged the situation for the first two days.

They kept showing an apartment which had collapsed in Islamabad. All television cameras were focused there. Only when President Musharraf came to Muzzaffarabad, relief got the needed push. The Muzzaffarabad–Kohala route, which links Kashmir to Pakistan, was started overnight after his visit.

Had this disaster struck Lahore, borders would have been kept wide open and aid would have been received. But I want to tell politicians that if Kashmiris survive, only then will you be able to 'fight' over Kashmir.

Lastly, I must add that ordinary Pakistanis have shown their nobility. Children and women have come forward to help us. People of Karachi and Lahore have risen to occasion and given away everything they could to express solidarity.